Social Mechanisms of Affective Learning

描述（由申请人提供）：情感神经科学的主要成就之一是建立了情感学习和消退的详细动物模型，该模型已在人类研究中得到证实和扩展（Schultz, 2006; Phelps & LeDoux, 2005）。在这些动物模型中发现的神经系统与心理障碍的发展有关，如焦虑症（Rauch, 2003）。然而，在人类的经验中，社会互动和情感学习本质上是交织在一起的，这些动物模型在许多方面都不能反映人类在社会和文化背景下的日常功能。首先，UCS的性质往往不同。人类经验中典型的强化因素通常是社会定义的，比如金钱或赞美。其次，刺激物与强化物的联系并不总是取决于情绪体验。情感学习的社会手段可以有效地传达刺激的情感品质，而无需直接体验情感事件。第三，减少对刺激的习得性情绪反应并不总是需要反复暴露刺激。相反，改变刺激的情感价值的策略可以通过社会互动来传达。拟议的研究将评估情感学习的动物模型如何或是否可以扩展到社会环境中的人类经验。具体目的1：利用基于经典条件反射的简单情感学习范式，探讨情感学习的社会手段的神经机制。先前关于情感反应获得的研究强调了杏仁核和纹状体的重要性。我们将研究情感反应的社会习得是否会招募类似的神经机制。具体目标2：我们将以经典条件反射中的消退学习模型为基础，探索控制习得情感反应的社会传递情绪调节策略是否依赖于重叠的神经机制。具体来说，我们将评估外侧和腹侧内侧前额叶皮层、杏仁核和纹状体的相互作用。具体目标3：我们将探索在一系列社会情绪调节策略中习得性情感反应调节的神经机制的重叠。情绪反应可以通过许多社会手段来调节，例如来自朋友的社会支持或治疗背景下的培训。我们将探讨这些不同的技术是否利用了相似的神经回路。这项提议的目标是了解大脑如何在社会环境中学习情绪反应，以及如何使用一系列技术来控制和修改它们。控制情绪反应的能力在日常适应功能和一系列心理障碍（如焦虑症）的治疗中至关重要。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): One of the primary achievements of affective neuroscience is the development of detailed animal models of affective learning and extinction that have been confirmed and extended in investigations with humans (Schultz, 2006; Phelps & LeDoux, 2005). The neural systems identified in these animal models have been implicated in the development of psychological disorders, such as anxiety disorders (Rauch, 2003). However in human experience, social interaction and affective learning are inherently intertwined, and there are a number of ways in which these animal models fail to reflect everyday human function in a social and cultural context. First, the nature of the UCS often differs. Typical reinforcers in human experience are often socially defined, such as money or praise. Second, how stimuli are linked to reinforcers does not always depend on emotional experience. Social means of affective learning can effectively convey the emotional qualities of a stimulus, without directly experiencing an emotional event. Third, diminishing a learned emotional response to a stimulus does not always require that the stimulus is repeatedly exposed. Instead, strategies for changing the emotional value of a stimulus can be conveyed through social interaction. The proposed studies will assess how, or if, animal models of affective learning can be extended to human experience in a social environment. Specific Aim 1: Using simple affective learning paradigms modeled on classical conditioning, we will explore the neural mechanisms of social means of affective learning. Previous research on the acquisition of affective responses has highlighted the importance of the amygdala and striatum. We will examine if the social acquisition of affective responses recruits similar neural mechanisms. Specific Aim 2: We will build on models of extinction learning in classical conditioning to explore if a socially conveyed emotion regulation strategies for controlling learned affective responses depend on overlapping neural mechanisms. Specifically, we will assess the interaction of the lateral and ventral medial prefrontal cortex, amygdala, and striatum. Specific Aim 3: We will explore the overlap in the neural mechanisms underlying the regulation of learned affective responses across a range of social, emotion regulation strategies. Emotional responses can be regulated by a number of social means, such as social support from a friend or training in a therapeutic context. We will explore if these different techniques utilize a similar neural circuitry. The goal of this proposal is to understand how the brain learns emotional responses in a social environment and how they can be controlled and modified using a range of techniques. The ability to control our emotional reactions is critical in everyday adaptive function and the treatment of a range of psychological disorders, such as anxiety disorders.